Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crime charges days after being rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The disgraced movie mogul, 72, is facing new charges ahead of his retrial in New York, however the indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges on September 18.
Weinstein is recovering at a Manhattan hospital following emergency surgery to remove fluid on his heart and lungs, and was not present at a hearing on Thursday over the fresh charges.
It came as prosecutors retrying Weinstein’s overturned rape conviction disclosed last week that they had begun presenting evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating as far back as the mid-2000s.
Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crime charges days after being rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery
The alleged crimes in the new indictment reportedly include sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006.
The indictment also includes an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Because the indictment is under seal, it was not known whether the new charges involved some or all of the additional allegations.
Earlier this year, Weinstein saw his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges overturned and he was ordered to undergo a new trial.
The case was overturned after the Court of Appeals determined the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations from other women that were not part of the trial.
Prosecutors have since been seeking to retry Weinstein for those 2020 charges, however it is unclear whether the new charges will be included in the retrial, according to the Associated Press.
The disgraced movie mogul, 72, pictured at his most recent court appearance on August 19, 2024, where he appeared feeble in a wheelchair
The new charges come after prosecutors in Britain announced last week that they would no longer pursue charges of indecent assault against Weinstein.
He has languished in prison in New York ever since his conviction, after he became the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began going public with accounts of his behavior.
At the hearing on Thursday that Weinstein missed, a judge ruled that the producer’s ailing health means he will be allowed to remain at Bellevue Hospital instead of being returned to Rikers Island.
Weinstein, who co-founded the film and television production company Miramax, has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
The charges against Weinstein do not come as a surprise as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has signaled for months that his office was intent on bringing further action against him.
Although some of the allegations against the producer have expired the statute of limitations, at a hearing in July prosecutors said they were actively pursuing claims of rape that occurred in Manhattan within the time frame.
Weinstein has languished in prison in New York since his conviction, but his ailing health led a judge on Thursday to rule he can remain in hospital
The moves against Weinstein also appear to have been furthered by a renewed willingness from his alleged victims to come forward.
Prosecutors said some potential accusers who were not ready to come forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial had indicated they were now willing to testify against him.
This includes one of the women whose testimony had Weinstein’s previous conviction thrown out, Jessica Mann, who is reportedly prepared to testify against him again.
Weinstein was also notably convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 over another rape, and even if he is acquitted in his retrial he would not be freed from custody.
His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained in custody in New York’s Rikers Island jail complex, and currently hospital, while awaiting retrial.
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